Chapter 27: A Shattered Calm

A Nuker is a type of dragon.

It has front legs but no hind legs, and its wings are so degenerated that they merely cling to its shoulders in small, stunted forms.

Its face is unmistakably draconic—but it has no eyes.

Its scales are an unnatural white, reminiscent of albinism.

They looked more like human skin than reptilian hide—unsettling, to say the least.

It was the type of creature that should live in caves, not out here—so how the hell did it fall from above?

“…Blood?”

There were claw marks on its back.

Had something even larger tried to make a meal of it?

But I’d never heard of dragons living near the capital.

And anything that could feed on a dragon—anything not a scavenger-type monster—was usually just another dragon. A bigger one.

“W-what is that, nya!?”

Sasha’s panic was only natural. You almost never encounter something like this.

“KIEEEHHH!”

The Nuker, which had fallen to the ground back-first, twisted its entire body as it let out a shriek—a grating noise that pierced straight into your ears.

We had just been calmly walking through the peaceful forest, searching for small monsters to train on—

This was like a bolt from the blue.

“Nariya, get behind me.”

“Kuong?”

“That thing’s got venom in its fangs.”

A monster’s threat level is based on the amount of magical power it contains.

Any dragon-type creature is automatically classified as high-tier.

Of course, not all dragons are world-ending threats.

A Nuker, for example, isn’t quite on the level of a full-blown catastrophe.

But what makes this one so dangerous is that it was designed to be venomous.

And that venom?

It isn’t chemical or bacterial.

It’s pure, condensed magical energy.

Nothing like that fake harpy we saw on the first day of class.

Which means Nuker venom is actually quite valuable. But—

“If you get bitten, you might really die.”

That’s what happens with a juvenile.

A full-grown one?

That’s an entirely different story.

“You’ve fought one before, nya!?”

“If it’s a juvenile, yeah. But that is a full-grown adult. Sasha—call for backup.”

“Got it, nya!”

Without hesitation, Sasha pulled a cylindrical object from her clothes and yanked the string at its end.

Fwoosh!

The signal flare shot into the sky with a hiss and exploded with a loud pop, releasing a cloud of bright red smoke.

“C-can’t we just run for it?”

Chloe asked, her voice shaking.

“It might look slow, but it’s actually pretty fast. At that size, even if we sprint at full speed, we won’t be able to outrun it.

Chloe—prepare your divine power.

Nuker venom can only be cured with divine energy.

That’s my limit.

For you guys, just don’t get bitten. Ever.”

“KIEEEHHH!”

The creature let out another horrible shriek, worse than before.

Squirming on the ground, it rolled its body into position and opened its mouth, revealing rows of densely packed, nail-like teeth about 20 centimeters long.

Purple drool oozed out, and when it dripped onto the floor, a sizzling sound echoed as if the stone were melting.

“I wish I at least had other parties with me right now.”

“What should I do?”

“I can’t handle this alone.”

Even though it had fallen from a considerable height and was injured, a single bite would still tear off a chunk of flesh.

Its teeth were the worst—no surprise for a dragon—but the rest of its body wasn’t weak either.

Its arms, though slender and seemingly fragile in structure, could easily break a rib or two if struck.

And its tail, barely distinguishable from its body, was even worse.

But there was no time to think.

Nucker charged straight at us, jaws wide open.

Already in a frenzied state, it showed no sign of hesitation.

“Fall back!”

At my shout, I heard the others behind me scrambling to create distance.

“Lila!”

Siwoo’s voice rang out—probably worried about me standing my ground.

But what choice did I have?

Right now, I was the only one who could hold this thing off.

I focused my mind.

Just like when I had wiped out the goblins before, I summoned the divine power available to a hero.

The holy sword in my hand responded, its blade gradually glowing brighter.

The faint light, once barely visible at night, now shone clearly.

Luckily, my party members, scattering in retreat, didn’t seem to notice.

I stared straight at Nuker as it lunged, dodging to the right at the last possible moment before its teeth could snap shut.

Then, I swung my sword sideways, thrusting it deep into the creature’s mouth.

Nucker clamped down—then opened again.

Yeah, that sting?

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have experienced divine power before.

Before Nucker could turn its head away from the blade, I dragged the sword sideways through its mouth.

Thunk!

The sword struck the edge of Nucker’s jaw, slicing into flesh.

“KIIIIEEE!”

Its furious roar turned into something closer to a scream—a high-pitched, ear-splitting shriek.

Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I pushed the sword forward with all my strength.

Sizzle.

The sound of Nucker’s purple venom dissolving the stone floor mixed with the crackling of its flesh burning under the holy sword’s power.

Not a pleasant noise.

CRACK!

The sword tore through the left side of Nucker’s mouth and burst out the other side.

The already massive maw now had a grotesque, lopsided grin—as if it were smiling.

Not that the Nuker was happy.

No, it was already wailing in agony.

BAM!

BAM!

Its tail slammed against the ground repeatedly, the vibrations shaking the floor beneath my feet.

Should I run?

I’d love to.

The gaping wound in its mouth exposed raw red muscle, and the mix of magical venom and blood dripping down was horrifying.

After a brief struggle on the ground, Nucker regained its stance.

Then, it opened its mangled mouth at me again.

I gripped my sword with both hands and steadied myself.

The Nuker charged at me with all its remaining strength—

“Ah—!”

Without hesitation, it moved its long body.

From a distance, it quickly approached, its tail dragging along the ground as it came toward me.

In a hurry, I raised my sword sideways to defend, but someone grabbed my back.

“OLELELF!”

And then, I fell awkwardly backward.

As I landed on the ground with my backside hitting hard, I felt the whip-like tail of the Nucker whip past my face.

The pressure of the wind made my hair flutter slightly.

I quickly got back up.

“Thank you!”

“I was just doing what I had to do!”

I heard Sasha’s voice.

And then—

Thud!

“Kiieek!”

While swinging its tail, an arrow suddenly shot through the air and struck the face of the Nucker.

It was an arrow shot by Siwoo.

Though its eyes were degraded, it wasn’t completely blind.

A thin membrane blocked its eyes, so it could still distinguish between light and dark.

Siwoo had aimed above its eyes and hit the target.

The Nucker turned its head.

One, two, three arrows followed, striking near its nose.

The few arrows that hit directly embedded deeply, while some others just grazed it, leaving a long gash across its scales.

But the arrows were enough to anger the Nucker.

Letting out a fierce scream, the Nucker tried to charge toward Siwoo, Chloe, and Nariya.

“Great Goddess.”

Chloe extended her hand and cried out.

With one wave of her hand, a fan-shaped white light emanated from Chloe, as if it possessed physical power.

The Nucker, which had been turning its head toward the party, quickly backed away.

To Chloe’s right, in the diagonal front, was Nariya, fully armored in full plate, standing firm.

Holding a shield as large as Chloe’s body in one arm and a massive mace in the other, she looked quite imposing.

I sprang to my feet and ran forward.

“Kiieek!”

Had it lived its entire life in a cave?

The Nuker was completely confused by the situation.

Maybe it was because it had tasted the divine power from the holy sword earlier, but Chloe’s divine power had quite an effect.

Like someone who had been shocked by static electricity hesitating before touching metal, the Nuker was pulling back.

I didn’t miss the opportunity.

I rushed forward and dove straight into the Nuker’s embrace.

I saw the wound on its back, which had been bleeding since it fell.

Up close, the wound seemed quite large—stretching from its back to its side.

It looked like a wound a hawk might leave on a fish it caught.

Though that wound probably meant a lot, I didn’t have time to think about it in detail.

I leaped with all my strength and thrust my sword into the wound.

For a moment, the Nuker’s screech stopped.

Its legs, which had been planted on the ground, buckled, and its belly hit the floor.

“Ughk!”

Standing on its back, I adjusted my position and moved up a little more securely.

Then, with both hands gripping the sword tightly, I twisted it sideways, channeling as much divine power as I could into the blow.

White smoke rose from the wound, as if the metal of the sword had been heated in boiling water.

“Kiieek!”

The Nuker jerked its back violently, flinging me off.

“Ugh!”

My foot slipped on its notoriously slick scales, but I managed to keep a firm grip on my sword until the very end.

As I crashed to the ground, the sword twisted downward, tearing the wound even wider.

Its innards spilled out.

I wasn’t sure exactly what organ it was, but it was strange to think that even a magical beast like this—something born of pure mana—had something so… visceral.

I landed hard on my back, the impact knocking the breath out of me.

Gritting my teeth, I staggered back to my feet.

Then, in an instant, a chilling energy surged through my body, restoring my strength—

Siwoo’s ability at work.

“Grrrkk—”

A gurgling noise bubbled from Nucker’s mouth, purple foam frothing between its teeth.

I forced my breathing steady as I backed away, never taking my eyes off it.

Even now, there was still a chance it could rise again—this wasn’t some low-tier monster.

Even with its guts spilled out.

“Is everyone alright?”

A quick glance confirmed no one was seriously hurt.

“Lira, what about you?”

Siu rushed toward me, concern sharp in his voice.

“I’m fi—”

—ne.

THUD.

A sudden, crushing force caved in my lungs.

A searing pain exploded in my side, and blood surged into my mouth.

CRACK.

Ah.

That’s the sound of something breaking.

By the time I regained my senses, I was already airborne.

Right.

That’s how it was.

Nuker had fallen from the sky.

SMACK!

The sound reached me just as a few drops of blood splattered across my face.

Below, Siwoo must have fired an arrow, trying to pin it down.

But Nucker didn’t even seem to notice—it just kept flying.

The ground rapidly shrank beneath me.

We were climbing almost vertically.

Through my slightly blurred vision from the blood, I looked up and saw what appeared to be a wyvern.

But it wasn’t just any wyvern — it was much larger than usual.

Ha, it was fortunate that I had managed to keep holding onto my sword until the very end.

And that the creature came at me from my left.

Although my left arm was pressed tightly against my side, my right arm was still free.

I gritted my teeth and squeezed all my remaining strength.

It was hard to even breathe, but I could still feel the divine power gathering in my sword.

I lifted the sword and swung it with whatever strength I had left.

This time, I think I heard a scream.

Blood poured onto my face, so I couldn’t confirm it properly.

Ah, come to think of it, monster blood isn’t exactly good to ingest directly.

At the point when I started having such irrelevant thoughts, my body was already flying through the air.